Dahlea Harvel, 51, lays in a tanning bed at My Island Tan & Spa on Friday in Fort Myers. Starting July 1, the health-care reform package is imposing a 10 percent service tax to tanning salons. Many owners say they will pass the tax on to customers. Lexey Swall/Staff

NAPLES - Tanning salons are getting slammed from all sides.

The federal government's health-care overhaul is imposing a 10-percent tax on indoor tanning salon services come July, which salon owners say they will pass on to customers.

Last week, a panel for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) held a hearing to consider a tougher classification for tanning beds that may result in more federal oversight.

And there's a pair of bills in the Florida Legislature that would make it harder for teenagers to use tanning salons.

"I think it's discriminatory," Christy Boutot, owner of West Coast Tan of Naples, said of the 10 percent service tax that is expected to raise $2.7 billion in 10 years to help finance health-care reform. "No blacks, Asians or Hispanics tan."

The 10 percent tax will target Caucasians because they are the primary users of tanning beds, she said, and most of her customers are in their ‘30s to ‘50s, who work full time and want Vitamin D exposure.

Her sentiment was similarly voiced by conservative radio host Doc Thompson, filling in for Glenn Beck recently on his FOX radio show.

Thompson said the tanning tax is racist, a comment that has spawned considerable debate among bloggers.

"It's a tax against the middle class who can't afford to go on vacation, and the majority of them are women," said Lili Canfield, owner of My Island Tan and Spa near Fort Myers Beach.

Apart from that, she's an advocate that anything done in moderation is fine; her five employees are prohibited from allowing customers to tan more than once within a 24-hour period and they all are certified.

As for the Florida bills, parents now must come in to sign consent forms and so the law is already clear, Canfield said. The teen business generally is tied to prom time and the teens come with their parents. She expects people will keep tanning despite the tax because it makes them feel better, like a mini-spa.

"Taxes are going to come and taxes are going to go, you just have to adapt," Canfield said. "People are going to do what they want to do."

Boutot, of West Coast Tan, said lawmakers at both the federal and state levels are singling out an industry that offers a controlled environment for safer tanning. Most people don't understand salons make recommendations to customers about how long they should tan to be safe.

"To me, why don't you go to the beach and tax the people if they are not wearing (sun block)?" she said.

As for teenagers, Florida law already says a parent or guardian must be present when teens 16 to 18 sign up for tanning packages and give consent at that time, she said. For anyone under 14, the parent or guardian must be present each time the teen uses the salon.

What's been proposed in a bill sponsored by state Sen. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood, is a requirement that salon owners witness a parental consent form being signed for teens 16 and 17 years old and absent that, nobody under 16 can tan. Additional language would limit the number of tanning sessions for teens on a yearly basis, but the bill doesn't spell out the limits.

A similar bill in the House, proposed by Rep. Rick Kriseman, D-St. Petersburg, hasn't been heard in any committees, which means likelihood of any measure passing is slim this year.

Dr. Laertes Manuelidis, a Fort Myers dermatologist and president-elect of the Florida Society of Dermatology and Dermatologic Surgery, said the goal is better protection of teenagers similar to laws to prevent teen smoking.

"If you really think teens should not be smoking, I think you can say the same argument can be said about tanning beds," he said. "They go hand-in-hand."

Manuelidis said as a dermatologist who treats people with skin cancer, he would "have all the self-interest" to not weigh in on the tanning salon debate because no protections against teen use would ultimately mean more business for him.

"I am saying I don't want to see the people," he said, adding that he sees uninformed kids all the time with skin damage from tanning. "Kids don't know."

Dr. Dan Meirson, a dermatologist in Pompano Beach and legislative chairman for the dermatology society, said it is a public health issue. The society will keep pressing the issue if nothing happens this year.

"We just want to protect Florida's youth," Meirson said.

Regarding the FDA hearing last week, the general and plastic surgery devices panel considered tougher standards for tanning beds that possibly could include stronger warning labels. While no consensus on recommendations emerged, the 16-member panel agrees tanning beds are dangerous and there is no safe tan, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation in New York.

The FDA now regulates tanning beds as a "class I device," which is the same category as tongue depressors, according to the foundation. Moving tanning beds to a "class II device" would allow the FDA to limit the ultraviolet radiation exposure and prevent mirrors being used.

The hearing was an important first step and now the skin foundation will follow up with the FDA to keep the momentum going, according to Dr. Allan Halpern, vice president of the foundation.

The push with the FDA panel was prompted in part by the World Health Organization adding tanning beds to its "group one" list of products that are "carcinogenic to humans," according to the skin cancer foundation.